The countdown to MESSENGER’s second Mercury flyby continues. This image is from the seventh set of optical navigation images and was taken about 20 hours before MESSENGER’s upcoming closest approach to Mercury, which will occur on October 6, 2008, 04:40:22 am EDT. Similar to the results from the six earlier image sets, everything looks as planned for the flyby. One more set of optical navigation images will be acquired before MESSENGER begins its planned Mercury science flyby observations.

The
Images and Video's in the gallery pages may be protected by
copyright. You may download one copy for non-commercial personal
use to be displayed on your personal computer. Use other then
non-commercial requires that you obtain permission if
copyrighted from the copyright holder. See disclaimer page for
more detail. We will help direct you to the proper source if you
are unsure of copyright holder or your usage. Please always state
proper source / credit.